2015-01-19 23:26:13
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), will soon make his educational certificates public, elombah.com has learnt.
Although it’s been no less a distraction to the dingy campaigns, pressure has mounted for the certificate debacle of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress to be addressed for the record.
"Following Buhari's application, the Defence Headquarters released GMB's certificates today and the certificates will soon be presented for the visibility of Nigerians", a source told elombah.com
The question whether General Muhammadu Buhari, possess the minimum requirement by law to be Nigeria’s president has more than any other discrediting allegation against Buhari by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in any election year generated the most controversy and indeed, bears both the moral and legal burden.
It began with a statement credited to the National Secretary of the PDP, Professor Wale Oladipo, describing Buhari as a “semi-literate jackboot”. Oladipo, who had compared Jonathan to Buhari as a case of light and darkness, said the February 14 presidential election was “between a cosmopolitan highly focused PhD holder and a semi-literate jackboot”.
Reacting to the charge the APC had quickly refuted what it considered an insult to a man it holds in very high esteem. The barrage of claims and counter claims that followed in the media coupled with the PDP insistence on Buhari proving them wrong, is what has kept this controversy alive.
The General for the first time opened up on the issue yesterday when he spoke to newsmen Sunday at the Rivers State Governors lodge in Abuja alongside the APC governorship candidate in Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, and former Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi.
Buhari said he had contested three times under same rules set by the INEC where the basic educational qualifications had applied.
“Why didn’t Nigerians ask when I contested three times under the same rules set by the INEC whether the basic educational qualification had been met and I was allowed to contest all these elections because my certificate was in order.
“There are individuals who wrote to the United States War College and the college responded and it was published by some of your papers.
“So really, this desperation for misinformation that is being passed around will do nobody any good because our minds are being diverted from the serious issues of corruption and incompetence by the PDP,” he said.
Buhari explained that he had decided to speak on the allegations in order to bring to an end the distractions being caused by the continuous misinformation.
If he thought that will end the matter, Buhari was mistaken as critics quickly pointed that he failed to address the issue squarely.
A commetator told Elombah.com: "It is sad that my General failed to answer the question. Please read the news article again. It's actually sad that the general I love so much did not answer the questions asked. On the certificate brouhaha he only said:
“I have contested three times under the same rules set by the Independent National electoral Commission (INEC), where there is basic education qualification you must have and I was allowed to contest all these elections because my certificate was in order".
Lambasting Buhari for dodging the question, Mr Tochukwu Ezeoke continued: "his assertion is not true because the rule changed in 2011, that candidates must submit their credentials with their forms. The rule prior to 2011 was that candidate should state their qualifications. Bear in mind, in 2011, he filled in that he had diploma and in 2015 he filled in that he has WASC. So why the discrepancy. He who comes to equity must come with clean hands. The sad part is; why didn't he use the interview to clear the air? Why can't he say, I had my WASC or GCE or NDA result in 1960 at ...?
"My honest assessment is that the two major parties think that we are all idiots and can bully us with their egoist nonsense", he concluded.
Therefore seeking to lay the matter to rest once and for all, Buhari finally filed application for the Defence Headquarters to release his certificates today and "the certificates will soon be presented for the visibility of Nigerians".
Castigating the over 3,000 demonstrators that converged in Abuja today and that reportedly gave one week ultimatum to the Presidential candidate of the APC to table his certificates before the Independent National Electoral Commission or they will go to court, Buhari's spokesman in the 2011 presidential election Engineer Rotimi Fashakin told Elombah.com that the 'PDP/Jonathan campaign team is clueless and acting out of desperation'.
"Is someone not in court already?" he asked.
"The impending defeat has caused the panic button to be exciting all forms of erratic behaviour. In this season of anomie, it is Nigeria that bleeds heavily. It must be noted that the 3,000 protesting youths were 'settled' for that ignoble act."
Fashaking continued: "Very stupid people indeed! Because they were aware that the Defense Hq released GMB's certificates today, they quickly arranged this protest so that when the certificates are presented for the visibility of Nigerians, they'd start gloating that it was because of their pressure. This Jonathan government is infantile indeed".
Elombah.com recalls that In an interview with a national daily, the Army Public Relations Director, Brig-Gen. Olajide Laleye, was reported as saying, “Every serving and retired Army officer has at least a copy of his certificates and credentials kept in the Nigerian Army while that same serving and retired officer has copies of those same certificates and credentials.”
According to Laleye, there is a laid down procedure for requesting for one’s certificates, which was well known to all serving and retired officer.
“If you want anything checked in your file, you simply follow the due process and it would be given to you because the credentials belong to you”. He said the Nigerian Army does not refuse to anybody his credentials if due process is followed. “Not only does the Nigerian Army keep these things, the individual officers, whether serving or retired, have copies”.
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